Friday, 11 December 2009

Yesterday I attended a JISC assembly organised by the Modular e-Administration of Teaching MEAoT Project run by CARET - Cambridge University. The aim of the event was to explore ways in which stakeholders and other parties can be encouraged to adopt tools developed in JISC projects. Below you can see my presentation:

The second slide briefly explains the nature of BRII and the Entity Registry we are creating. The registry is a container of Research Activity Data and it is these data which has been semantizised that we are trying to sell around the University. BRII is doing this at two levels. First, being the registry an abstract concept, users find it difficult to understand. Therefore BRII needs to provide tangible examples that use its data. Slide 3 shows this as level 1: providing practical examples of data use, one of which is the Blue Pages. However, as the Blue Pages is a new piece of software BRII needs to find ways to promote it across its user base. Through user tests (level2 ) on the Blue Pages we make sure it fits the needs of our potential users, but at the same time we sell the idea of Research Activity Data being available in our registry for another users.

There were other presentations of course. The MEAoT people have written a summary about the event in their blog:

The Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) in Cambridge University hosted a JISC assembly for the Modular e-Administration of Teaching (MEAoT) project on Thursday, 10 December 2009.

The programme was designed to make the meeting a pleasant event. It started with a historical overview of the project (by Prof. Prager). This was immediately followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant, which helped break the ice and make everybody more comfortable.

About this Blog

Cecilia Loureiro-Koechlin

I am the BRII Project Analyst and responsible for this blog. I work at the Systems and e-Research Service at the Bodleian Libraries - Oxford University. E Cecilia.Loureiro-Koechlin@bodleian.ox.ac.uk, T +44 (0) 1865 280028, Contact address: Osney One, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0EW

Project Website

Our Goal

Building the Research Information Infrastructure (BRII) aims to support the efficient sharing of Research Activity Data (RAD) captured from a wide range of sources. BRII develops an infrastructure that harvests and archives RAD, and Web services which disseminate and reuse this kind of data by using a lightweight solution based on semantic web technologies. Phases of the project include: a stakeholder analysis to collect views from interested parties (e.g., academics and administrators); an iterative development process which uses information collected in the analysis phase; and an embedding and sustainability phase where user acceptance is assessed and strategies to support the expansion of the information research infrastructure are designed. Additional outputs of the BRII include: an application programming interface (API) for harvesting and querying data; a collection of ontologies and taxonomies used to organise and classify data; a themed Web site; and the Oxford Blue Pages displaying RAD in creative ways. By facilitating access to RAD, BRII expects to improve the research visibility of the institution and its research impact, as well as boost collaboration.

Rumsey, S. (2010) BRII registry & other outputs A description of the pilot Research Activity Data Registry functionality, services and other outputs that will be developed by the project end (March 2010) and suggestions for further work.

Adding a researcher profile. Video clip demonstrating how to search for a researcher profile in the ORA registry and then embed this in a content managed website.

Loureiro-Koechlin C. (2009) Selling an abstract concept to a practical audience (presented at the Modular e-Administration of Teaching (MEAoT) Assembly, Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET), University of Cambridge, 10 December 2009.)